Britain, Sweden - and a State of Palestine?

Many politicians and members of the public have come to see Palestinians as the world's underdogs, who, however ugly their behaviour, can do no wrong; and to portray Israel as a Nazi state that persecutes the Palestinians and "steals" the land -- mystifyingly -- of a people, the Jews, who have lived on that land for roughly 4,000 years.

"In a final resolution, we would not see a single Israeli -- civilian or soldier -- on our lands." — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight and kill the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and the trees will say, O Muslims, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. " — Hamas Charter, Article 7.

"[T]his struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated." Article 19, — Fatah [PLO] Constitution, as of July 19, 2005.

The British parliament, on October 13th, may be debating whether or not to recognize a Palestinian state.

Recognizing what in all likelihood would quickly become yet another Islamic terrorist state can only set a precedent that could have a disastrous impact on future negotiations and international law, and lead to the establishment yet more launching pads for people dedicated to violent jihad, not just in Israel, but, as they now openly admit, worldwide, including Britain and Sweden.

On October 3, newly elected Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven used his inaugural speech to announce a decision to recognize the "state of Palestine." In what must rank as one of the most self-contradictory statements in political history, he declared: "A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognise the state of Palestine."

One might be forgiven for thinking that to become Prime Minister of an important First World country takes considerable political, social and diplomatic skills and some intelligence. Has Mr. Löfven never heard of the 1967 Khartoum Declaration that declares "No peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel"? The Palestinians, and evidently the entire Arab world, still think like this, so where is the "mutual recognition" to appear from? While Palestinians and their supporters (including the Swedish left) chant, "Palestine will be free; From the river to the sea" (meaning that Israel will be replaced by a Palestinian state that, under Hamas, is more than likely to turn into another Islamic State), where is this "will to peaceful co-existence" supposed to come from? From the Hamas Charter, perhaps, whose thirteenth article unequivocally declares: "Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.... There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors"? Or perhaps an inspiring example may be found in the twenty or so peace proposals Palestinian leaders have turned down flat in the past sixty-six years? Will Sweden's recognition bring peace and a "two-state solution" any closer? Or will it give the Palestinians greater encouragement to fight against the provisions of international law that legitimize Israel's right to exist and the call for two states in 1947? Will the Palestinians continue their demands for a one-state solution, giving them Gaza, the West Bank and all of Israel -- with the Jews now in Israel, Judaea and Samaria maybe allowed to live there on sufferance, as "tolerated" second-class-citizens, or dhimmis like the Christians, Kurds and Yazidis in Iraq, the Kurds in Syria, or the Copts in Egypt? Or will a current Palestinian state mean the death or expulsions of all the Jews in Israel -- for has not Mahmoud Abbas, the chief beneficiary of these ill-thought recognitions, declared: "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands"?

There is no Palestinian state to recognize in the first place: the Palestinians rejected the state they were offered by the UN in 1947, they have continued to reject it, and have for years been in breach of UN Resolution 242, to which they had agreed, that "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force" since they demand withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 borders, something the resolution was carefully drafted to avoid. Unless Israel is given "secure and recognized boundaries." Such blasé repudiation of an internationally binding commitment is a breach only a totally illiterate politician would fail to see. So long as Israel is a state surrounded by violent countries such as Iran, Syria, Iranian-controlled Lebanon, Yemen -- as well as jihadist movements from Hamas to Hizbullah to Islamic State to Islamic Jihad, all overtly dedicated to its destruction -- no Palestinian state can be recognized.

Sweden was one of the best, most liberal of democracies, a perfect mix of modern social democracy and conservatism. In 2013, The Economist voted it and the other Nordic countries as the best-governed countries in the world -- with Sweden at the top. Sweden guaranteed freedom of the press in 1766; and its social advances from the 1840s onwards made it a model for democracy and individual freedoms. During World War II, it saved the lives of around 8,000 Jews from Denmark and Norway. It remains a creative country, producing great drama and a host of young musicians. On the face of it, Sweden seems to be as progressive and forward thinking a country among the Western democracies. So what went wrong?

Two things seem to have created problems in the land of the reindeer: the arrival of fundamentalist Islam and the introduction of political correctness and multiculturalism into a moderate socialist system that, ironically, made (and still makes) Sweden progressive and economically successful by embracing capitalism.

Much in Sweden is utterly at odds with orthodox Islam. Sweden is one of the world's most gender-egalitarian countries. Women voted (with limitations) in national elections as early as 1758, and with full suffrage from 1921. Sweden was the seventh country in the world to legalize gay marriage, after legalizing homosexual activity as early as 1944.

A majority of Swedes of Islamic origin today are secularists. But for the minority committed to a more rigorous view of the faith, it must be extremely uncomfortable to live in a country so tolerant of almost everything countermanded in shari'a law. That is where political correctness and multiculturalism -- the distorted products of an otherwise commendable opposition to racism and discrimination -- enter the scene, with governments bending over backwards (as also in the UK, Denmark and Norway) to accommodate the demands, in addition to the needs, of immigrant populations.

Sweden has acted conscientiously in accordance with international and European human rights legislation, and has made serious efforts to integrate immigrants within its society. Despite these efforts, however, discrimination continues, leaving many immigrants unintegrated because of Swedes' reluctance to put reforms into practice.

Despite earnest efforts to turn immigrants into law-abiding Swedes, the intake of soaring numbers of unintegrated foreigners has started to backfire. A section of the large Arab and Muslim communities has led to the emergence of widespread criminal activity in the cities, and the creation of no-go zones that closely resemble the 750 French zones sensibles, where the police, fire brigades and other social services are barred entry by threats of violence or dangerous attacks.

In Sweden, which has some of the most liberal immigration laws in Europe, large swaths of the southern city of Malmö – which is more than 25% Muslim – are "no-go" zones for non-Muslims. Fire and emergency workers, for example, refuse to enter Malmö's mostly Muslim Rosengaard district without police escorts. The male unemployment rate in Rosengaard is estimated to be above 80%.

In the Swedish city of Gothenburg, Muslim youth have been hurling petrol bombs at police cars. In the city's Angered district, where more than 15 police cars have been destroyed, teenagers have also been pointing green lasers at the eyes of police officers, some of whom have been temporarily blinded.

According to the Malmö-based Imam Adly Abu Hajar: "Sweden is the best Islamic state."

An inevitable consequence of this impunity for Muslim radicals has been the rapid growth of anti-Semitism in cities such as Malmö. As far back as 2003-4, a U.S. government report indicated that Sweden was already suffering from a growth in anti-Semitic incidents, many in Malmö.

Another important 2005 report on anti-Semitism in Sweden by the Living History Forum and the National Council for Crime Prevention stated that: "[A]ntisemitic images and ambivalent attitudes towards Jews are comparatively more prevalent amongst Muslims than amongst Christians and non-religious groups. Amongst adults, 39 per cent of those who say they are Muslims harbour systematic antisemitic views compared to 5 per cent in total."

This conclusion explains the curious discrepancy in the ADL 2014 Global 100 Report on anti-Semitism, in which Sweden has one of the lowest rates of anti-Semitism in the world, at 4% (higher only than the Philippines at 3% and Laos at 0.2%). The 4% figure for Sweden is also close to figures for Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.

The reason for this imbalance between perceptions of growing antisemitism and a world-class record of its absence is that the ADL did not record Muslim attitudes in any Western European country. The earlier 39% (which may be larger now) may be a better indicator of how things actually are on the ground in Sweden.

The situation is, of course, at its worst in cities such as Malmö and Gothenburg, and parts of Stockholm. In 2010, the Skånska Dagbladet reported that attacks on Jews in Malmö reached 79 in 2009, twice the rate for 2008. In that same year, the Simon Wiesenthal Center warned Jews visiting Sweden to exercise "extreme caution" in the south, mainly because of physical attacks in Malmö.

Daniel Radomski, chairman of the Zionist Federation of Sweden, is in no doubt as to the source of most current anti-Semitism in the country: "The recent rise in anti-Semitic activity in Sweden originates directly from the Arab and Muslim communities."

A Swedish Holocaust survivor, Judith Popinski, echoes this sentiment: "This new hatred comes from Muslim immigrants....The hatreds of the Middle East have come to Malmo. Schools in Muslim areas of the city simply won't invite Holocaust survivors to speak any more."

Nowadays, classic Islamic distrust of and contempt for Jews merges tightly with political issues; and here is where seemingly isolated occurrences have consequences for national policy. Radomski skewers this in a few well-chosen sentences: "Most crucially and discouragingly," he writes, "the current political climate in Sweden is a key enabler for the rise of anti-Semitic attacks. This is Swedish Jewry's real clear and present danger; a fatal combination of political correctness, self-righteousness and obliviousness, as leading politicians and opinion makers participate in or blatantly ignore the correlation between a disproportionate demonization of Israel that frequently crosses the line into anti-Semitism. This has created a climate where it is acceptable and encouraged to support calls for Israel's destruction, deliberately ignoring the effect such support has as a vehicle for the rise in Swedish anti-Semitism."

Former mayor of Malmö, Ilmar Reepalu, a ruling Social Democrat party politician (now an adviser to the party's executive committee) gained notoriety when he blamed anti-Jewish violence on the Jews. In a 2010 interview with the Skånska Dagbladet, he said: "I would wish for the Jewish community to denounce Israeli violations against the civilian population in Gaza. Instead it decides to hold a [pro-Israeli] demonstration in the Grand Square [of Malmö], which could send the wrong signals."

The pro-Israel demonstration referred to was a pro-peace march that was attacked by a violent counter-demonstration, yet Reepalu could only blame the Jews. Worse still, on speaking to the British Sunday Telegraph, also in 2010, he even denied that there had been any attacks on Jews in Malmö: "There haven't been any attacks on Jewish people, and if Jews from the city want to move to Israel that is not a matter for Malmö."

Reepalu is not considered an anti-Semite, but his remarks unintentionally identify the reality that in Sweden, as elsewhere, there is a real conflation of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Jews, Reepalu has said, can only look for protection from violence if they "distance themselves from Israel".

Swedish Muslim hatred of Israel and Jews thus found a perfect vehicle for expressing the very things that, under other circumstances, might have brought that hatred hard against a brick wall of national tolerance. That wall would have been built from the bricks of Swedish liberal values, the widespread absence of anti-Semitism among native Swedes (the stunning 4%), the country's long-standing sense of individual and communal democracy, concern for the downtrodden, moral conscience, moderate socialism, and commitment to human rights. In a sane world, all these things would lead to strong support for Jews under attack and sympathy for a Jewish state beleaguered from all sides by Islamist forces, from Hamas to Hizbullah to Islamic State.

"Members of Parliament have attended anti-Israel rallies where the Israeli flag was burned while the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were waved, and the rhetoric was often anti-Semitic—not just anti-Israel. But such public rhetoric is not branded hateful and denounced, said Henrik Bachner, a writer and professor of history at the University of Lund, near Malmo."

Sweden's governments have done many good things for their people. They have created a healthy and balanced economy and a sound social framework. But, as in so many places across Europe, political openness to diversity, with an emphasis on national culture, has given way to waves of political correctness and multicultural denial.

Many politicians and members of the public have come to see the Palestinians as the world's underdogs, who, however ugly their behaviour, can do no wrong; and to portray Israel as a Nazi state that persecutes the Palestinians and "steals" the land -- mystifyingly -- of a people, the Jews, who have lived on that land for roughly 4,000 years.

A country that freely and rightly gives asylum to people persecuted under oppressive regimes (such as the thousands of Iranians who fled there after the 1979 revolution) can fall too easily for the distorted and manufactured Palestinian narrative. Why else would an MP from the ruling Social Democrat party entertain even for a moment the conspiracy theory that Israel's Mossad has been training Islamic State fighters? Adrian Kaba made this very accusation this month. He has since apologized and recognized that he was wrong -- but a member of parliament who suffers from such delusions presumably does so because the political culture within which he operates encourages bizarre beliefs about Israel, and probably also Jews, to begin with.

Offering recognition to a "Palestinian State" only serves to give the Palestinians false hopes of achieving their ambition of wiping Israel off the map, literally -- it already started this process long ago by erasing Israel from all its maps -- and permanently upending the consensus of how international affairs are run.

The Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, poses with a map devoid of any trace of the State of Israel, instead presenting it as a map of "Palestine," May, 2013. (Image source: Palestinian Media Watch)

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19 Reader Comments

James • Dec 13, 2014 at 22:49

Sweden's, and the rest of Europ's, attempts to follow the UN human rights agenda condemning Israel is well meaning but tragic. It might help Sweden and Europe to remember that the UN is not God and to again put God first and foremost. Then they can again put their nation in line with God. The UN is run by human beings who can and are making mistakes; and they do not care as much about Sweden as Swedes do. It is almost as if Europeans are equating human rights with God, which is a dangerous development that can have deadly consequences, which may have already started. Regrounding with God can help Swedish people put their nation on solid ground.

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Ron Thompson • Oct 31, 2014 at 18:25

One answer to the now official recognition by Sweden of the 'state' of Palestinewould be to for other nations to move to officially recognizes the de facto Sharia-based City-State of Malmo as a sovereign entity entirely divorced in law, as it appears to be in fact, from the remaining nation of Sweden.

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Super Hans • Oct 19, 2014 at 04:58

If supporters of Israel's actions are going to continue to invoke the Hamas charter or Fatah constitution as relevant documents when it comes to the peace process, surely we should also examine the Likud platform as well? Here is an extract:

"a. The Jordan river will be the permanent eastern border of the State of Israel.b. Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel.The government will flatly reject Palestinian proposals to divide Jerusalem.c. The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.d. The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting."

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David Polovin • Oct 12, 2014 at 06:16

By contrast with the facts so articulately stated by Denis MacEoin, the US Administration is preparing another attempt at brokering 'peace'. Well intentioned no doubt, but surely it occurs that a change of mind in the Arab street is needed first and that efforts at peacemaking should begin there?

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yuval Brandstetter MD • Oct 12, 2014 at 03:20

Having encouraged the Arabs that with sufficient pressure the Jews will capitulate, Hamas, the Palestinian State in all but name, went to war on Israel. The result is 25 thousand Arabs who fled the Gaza Strip in the last 3 months and many more who will pay Hamas extortionists thousand of dollars to use the tunnels to escape Hamas to the west. The Palestinian state will be created in the place of least resistance, possibly Sweden, just as the Islamic State is being formed in former Assyria, Nineveh province along the Land of Two rivers. The Jews will remain resistant to Islamic conquest, which is what angers Swedes the most, since they seem to be unable to defend their land and their women against conquering Islam. Just look up statistics of rape in Stockholm and Oslo to realize the calamity

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Ariely shein • Oct 11, 2014 at 12:31

If Europeans were honest, they would admit that some of their assumptions didn't pass the reality test.

But policy and honesty are contradictions:

The increasing dependency of European politicians on Muslims votes in addition to the dependency on ME oil (and the hidden traditional anti-Semitism) leads only to one direction.

Europe identity and culture is changing on the way to be EuroArabia.

Europe always comes to the Israelis with demands for concessions, regardless of their faulty record:

-- Europeans don't concentrate on the root cause of the conflict and demand the Palestinians to easily solve the conflict: "Recognize the Israeli Jewish state and declare end of conflict." 2 simple sentences the Palestinians refused in 1947 and refuse today. Palestinian could get land in an exchange of only a few words. Palestinians could live in peace starting 1947 and build a wonderful society – But they preferred not to. The current tactic is to demand international legitimacy of statehood and legitimacy of their quest to destroy Israel.

-- After Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, EU policed the Rafah crossing to prevent weapons smuggling. It abandoned the mission two years later

- After 2006 Lebanon war, EU took over large parts of the UN mission to prevent weapons smuggling to Hezbollah. The terrorist group since acquired 100,000 sophisticated rockets. Hizbullah is a heavily armed Iranian proxy at Israel's border.

-- Europeans say Israel should always swap land for peace. Failed with Hamas and PLO .(Gaza and West bank)

-- European didn't accept Israel's right to self-defense from attacks carried 5 km away from their borders. But the European claim the right of defence on areas 3500 km away from their borders that don't shell their cities.

The Europeans must ask a hard question. Assume that Israel will follow their demands and the peace experiment failed -- will Israel survive?Europe's experiment of creating artificial states in ME - Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Libya failed and Islamists are all over.

Europe can afford confronting their mistakes -- but not Israel.

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Paul Renan • Oct 11, 2014 at 09:37

I am not sure that Sweden's hypocrisy regarding Israel can be entirely blamed on the Muslims - although the sharp rise in anti Semitism there can. It was only in 1999 that the Sami people were recognized as a legal minority , which included the right to use their own language when dealing with local authorities, Even in the apartheid era of South Africa, all indigenous communities were allowed this right. All through this period, the Swedes and the Norwegians were marching for Mandela whilst their own indigenous communities were not given the rights to cultural expression.

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Dallas • Oct 10, 2014 at 18:43

Is not Israel an internationally and legally-existing nation of the world?

If this is a photo produced by UNWRA, why is it still in existence? If this photo is bona fide, then UNWRA and Ann Dimorr are on the wrong side of the law and complicit in this rogue act. Her and UNWRA's only defense could be that they posed for the picture under duress.

Why no consequence?

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judithg • Oct 10, 2014 at 13:28

Western civilization is devolving. Horrific as it is to read about Sweden's folly, it is no greater or more peculiar and bizarre example of history repeating itself (again) until it stupifies the mind. America, (aka "North America"), is no different now. The whole society bears little or no resemblance to the noble experiment, having only proved itself having no ability for eternal vigilance. The entire enterprise swallowed up in mendacious political corruption, collusion, criminality. falling off the edge of the flat world, hurts.

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Sunnyman6 • Oct 10, 2014 at 12:43

I totally agree on the idiocy of our new Social Democratic Prime Minister Löfvén's intention of recognizing the "Palestinian State". However, some of the description of Sweden in the article is not quite correct. Notably, the total and utter failure of integrating immigrants from Muslim countries is NOT due to "discrimination"!! This is a myth and a lie spread by Swedish leftists.

In fact, Sweden is one of the countries in the world with the LEAST hostility to strangers. The failure of integration is due to Sweden's very generous social benefits, which makes it easy to live on welfare and not bother to work. Also, these mainly Muslim immigrants often insist on living like they did back in the Middle East and refuse to adapt to a Western lifestyle. This attitude makes them extremely unattractive in the labor market. In fact, Sweden's extremely high rate of immigration of this kind of people is going to crash our whole system of social security -- plus our culture and way of life.

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Geoff Bairstow • Oct 10, 2014 at 10:55

It is tragic what is happening in Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries, as this article shows. It is due not only to mass immigration from Muslim countries but the attitude of the Swedes themselves. I cannot understand how in one generation they seem to have changed from being liberal and open-minded into the politically correct monstrosity we see in this article.I fear things are going to get a lot worse before they [hopefully] will get better.

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robert willer • Oct 10, 2014 at 10:24

Circulate this piece to Britain's MP's. It is very important that politicians everywhere understand the immorality and perversity of the left's wish to eliminate Israel. There is no grasp at all that Zionism arose because of anti-Semitism and without Israel no place outside Anglo-Saxon countries will be safe. Hamas is no different from IS. If the latter is evil why is Hamas a partner for peace?

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Clare Spark • Oct 10, 2014 at 10:02

In 2007 I spent months of research in the once-restricted Sir Brian Urquhart's materials compiled to write his Ralph Bunche biography. I concluded that Britain may have never wanted to give up the Mandate for strategic reasons having to do with Palestine's location between Egypt and India. I reported Ralph Bunche's opinions here: http://clarespark.com/2014/06/18/how-ralph-bunche-sold-out-and-failed-in-palestine/. The issue was pro-Arabism in the UK and in the US State Department; this led Bunche to believe that the Palestine problem was insoluble and that Israel would be inevitably an "expansionist" (i.e. destabilizing) entity.

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I am an Arab • Oct 10, 2014 at 08:51

This article emphasises the profound ignorance of the "West" when it comes to the Middle East.

It also outlines the craftiness of the Palestinians and its success in deceiving the "West".

Well, let me tell you : I am an Arab and most Arabs do not believe Palestinians. As a matter of fact, most Arabic countries do not feel safe and secure if there is powerful Palestinian presence on their own land.

Jordan kicked them out after eight assassination attempts against King Hussein (King Abdullah's father). Indeed, King Hussein ordered his Jordanian army to wipe the PLO off the Hashemite land during the month of September 1970. (Black September). An Egypt-brokered agreement saved the PLO but no one (including Egypt) wanted them. They left to Lebanon.

The havoc Palestinians inflicted upon the Lebanese people, government and army materialised in a merciless civil war which lasted for a decade. It was IDF who saved Lebanon and restored its sovereignty. So, Palestinians moved to Tunisia.

During Iraq-Kuwait war, Palestinians in Kuwait decided to bite the Kuwaiti hand who had been feeding them and sided with the occupying Iraqi forces. So, the liberated new Kuwait kicked them out.

As he was signing the peace treaty with Israel, the Egyptian president Sadat kicked them out of Egypt after they declared "Sadat assassination is not worth the price of a bullet".

Libya's Gaddafi on more than one occasion at the Arab League meetings described Palestinians as "stupid" because they wasted one chance after another.

Saudis and Emirates do not trust Palestinians. They just bribe them with money to silence them.

Sisi's Egypt did not waste time to distance Egypt from Hamas and to close the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the time humanitarian supplies were flowing from Israel to Gaza. A revenge and retaliation against Palestinians who caused havoc and terror in Sinai for ten years.

The list goes on and on.

So, if Arabs do not believe Palestinians anymore and do not effectively support their cause, why the "West" does ? Why the "West" is still ignorant and wants to remain ignorant......I can not understand !

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John MacArthur • Oct 10, 2014 at 08:13

Are we then surprised about UNWRA's covert complicity with Hamas during protective Edge? Of course not. Perhaps Ann Dismorr's ambassadorial skills deserted her on this occasion. Or perhaps not.

Political correctness and multiculturalism have produced a uniquely western and liberal stupidity, as shown in this article.How de facto acceptance of the demonisation and implied destruction of a sovereign democracy-Israel-can now be deemed to be acceptable for liberal social democrats is eveidence of just how insidious and successful the infection has been.

Calls for the destruction say, of China, or Saudi Arabia or Iran would be denounced fervently by the same liberals who joyfully and O so righteously condemn Israel.

Sweden,with its long and successfully cultivated neutrality and stability is now in the lead.When I worked at Heathrow many years ago, a colleague was told by a newly arrived Swedish visitor that Sweden is 'a moral superpower'.This assumption of moral superiority could well be Sweden's undoing.

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Hanna • Oct 10, 2014 at 07:41

It is, most probably, too late, but every decent (and not so decent) person in the world should read this terrific article. It is a GREAT HISTORY lesson - something our world needs, badly, right now, when we are slowly, but surely, descending back into the Dark Ages. As for an independent Palestinian State, that too is, probably, too late. The Palestinians had many chances. Unfortunately, they are more interested in the destruction of Israel than a state of their own. So, don't hold your breath. Hanna. Thank you Mr. Denis MacEoin.

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Lennart Wennberg • Oct 10, 2014 at 06:51

I'm a Swede and I'm embarrassed.
I did my duty in the newly held general election and did what I could to stop this insanity, but...

Bahareh Hedayat is a human rights activist who has spent over six years in an Iranian prison for "insulting" Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and for "actions against national security, propagation of falsehoods, mutiny and illegal congregation." Hedayat is the longest serving female prisoner of conscience in Iran.